Sanity Solutions Cybersecurity Roundup – November 2018

Posted on November 27, 2018.

Cybersecurity: A Growing Concern for CanadaRecently published research suggests Canadians are beginning to perceive cybersecurity as a more significant threat than in years’ past. Specifically, the ESET Cybercrime Barometer 2018, a survey which polled North Americans, discovered “nine out of 10 Canadians agree that cybercrime is an important challenge to the internal security of Canada.”

Additionally, the published survey found that respondents thought cybercrime was a more important challenge than terrorism, human trafficking, or money laundering.

BlackBerry has announced the acquisition of AI-based Cylance for over $1 billion US dollars. Cylance has established a reputation of using artificial intelligence, machine learning and more to proactively analyze and detect threats for its customers. Also worth noting, reports have mentioned Cylance will continue to operate as a separate business unit within BlackBerry.

Instagram Security Issue Exposes User PasswordsDuring a recent security patch, Instagram accidentally exposed a selection of user passwords in plain text format. According to Instagram, the plaintext passwords for some users who had used the Download Your Data feature were exposed and stored on Facebook’s servers due to a security bug. This bug was discovered by the Instagram internal team and affected users are being notified by Instagram.

New Cybersecurity Minister of Japan Hasn’t Used Computer
The newest cybersecurity minister of Japan, Yoshitaka Sakurada, has recently made news for his comments surrounding computer usage, or lack thereof. During a cabinet committee meaning, Yoshitaka shared that he has never actually used computer.

Additionally, when asked why he was appointed to this position, the cybersecurity minister responded, “I don’t know.”

US Now Has Official Cybersecurity AgencyUS President Donald Trump recently signed a bill into law which approves the creation of the CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency). The CISA will be a standalone federal agency in charge of overseeing civilian and federal cybersecurity programs.

As a federal agency, the CISA is on the same level as the Secret Service or FEMA. Additionally, Chris Kebs has been announced as the CISA director.